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Surgut

(Encyclopedia)Surgut so͞orˈgo͞ot [key], city (1989 pop. 248,000), in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Siberian Russia, on the Ob river. An oil and gas center as well as a port, it is connected by rail and pip...

Browne, Thomas Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Browne, Thomas Alexander, pseud. Rolf Boldrewood rōf bôlˈdərwo͝odˌ, rôlf [key], 1826–1915, Australian author. A squatter, a magistrate, and a commissioner in the gold fields, he wrote many bo...

common law

(Encyclopedia)common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the co...

Columbia University

(Encyclopedia)Columbia University, mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League ...

siege

(Encyclopedia)siege, assault against a city or fortress with the purpose of capturing it. The history of siegecraft parallels the development of fortification and, later, artillery. In early times battering rams an...

sign language

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Manual alphabet sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with o...

miniature painting

(Encyclopedia)miniature painting [Ital.,=artwork, especially manuscript initial letters, done with the red lead pigment minium; the word originally had no implication as to size]. In a general sense the term denote...

Munro, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Munro, Alice, 1931–, Canadian writer, b. Wingham, Ont., as Alice Ann Laidlaw. Much acclaimed as one of the finest contemporary short-story writers, Munro is known for quiet, insightfully realistic, ...

Halifax, George Savile, 1st marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Halifax, George Savile, 1st marquess of, 1633–95, English statesman. A protégé of the 2d duke of Buckingham, he was made Viscount Halifax (1668) and sat (1672–76) in the privy council. An oppone...

Fuentes, Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Fuentes, Carlos kärˈlōs fwānˈtās [key], 1928–2012, Mexican writer, editor, and diplomat. He was head of the department of cultural relations in Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs (1956–59)...